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Last year I somehow managed to miss all the buzz about Book Blogger Appreciation Week. I promised myself I would be involved this year so I immediately jumped at the opportunity to participate in the BBAW interviews.

I started my blog almost three years ago. One of the biggest problems I had when I was in school was that I would quickly forget what I had read and when I started reading again in early 2006, I was finding I had the same problem. I started thinking about different ways that I could keep track of what I had read and I what I thought about each one. I played around with an Access Database for awhile, but it wasn’t really working out that well. Several people at one of the online book forums I participated in had blogs and I really enjoyed reading them. After about 6 months, I decided “I could do that” and started my own blog.

What is your favorite book of all time?

That is a really hard question. I did not read much after my daughter was born and I finished my post undergraduate degree. For about 15 years, between family and work, there just really wasn’t much time so my reading life really has two distinct parts. I honestly can not remember what my younger self’s favorite book was although I remember being especially fond of The Little House on the Prairie series. My current reading choices are pretty much limited to historical fiction and history related non-fiction books (I always loved history in school and at one point considered becoming a history teacher). As of now, my favorite book is Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman.

Has blogging introduced you to any new authors or books that you might not otherwise have read?

In the beginning, I would say yes. As I discovered more and more blogs I discovered more and more authors. But since my reading interests are so focused, by now I have a pretty good grasp on what’s out there as well as on out of print authors. Occasionally I’ll run across one I haven’t heard of before, but it’s becoming less and less frequent.

Did you like to read as a child? Did you have a favorite book or author?
I loved to read as a child. Before I could read myself my mom would spend hours a day reading to me and I had piles and piles of books (kind of like now!). One of her favorite stories about me is that I had convinced myself at an early age that I could actually read – what I had really done was memorized the words that went with the pictures – but I would sit and “read” outloud to myself. I read constantly through elementary and middle school; less so in high school and college. When I was a kid, I especially loved the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, the Nancy Drew books and A Wrinkle in Time.

How many books are on your TBR pile?

I own over 200 books that I have not read yet. This doesn’t include the approximately 100+ books on my wish list at Paperback Swap and even more on Amazon and the post it notes I keep in a journal type book.

Are you a cover-judger? Or do you use another method for choosing books?

I do have a weakness for book covers (I’m an admitted cover slut!) and I even have another blog devoted to historical fiction book covers. As far as choosing books to read, I have a spreadsheet which lists all of the books I own (as well as a few books I can get from the library) which sets out the order in which I plan on reading them. When I get new books they are added into the spreadsheet at an appropriate place. I try not to read books about the same person/era too close to together, except that I will read a non-fiction book immediately after a related fiction one.

Obviously blogging is a hobby of yours. What are some of your other hobbies?

Reading! I also like to travel (wish I could do it more) and spending time with my husband. We recently moved to another state and our daughter stayed behind to go to college so we have a lot more time on our hands to do things we want to do and a great new state to explore!